German automobile manufacturer BMW has partnered with PG&E on its ChargeForward programme with the Californian utility managing the charging of the 100 BMW i3.

According to BMW, the 18-month pilot running from July 2015 – December 2016 aims to “better understand the relationship between home EV charging and the energy grid.”

David Almeida, principal program manager, electrification and alternative fuels at PG&E, said that the utility sends out demand response (OpenADR) signals one day in advance to BMW servers.

The car manufacturer then sends the signals through its ConnectedDrive telematics programme to participants’ mobile devices and other vehicles.

An additional goal of the pilot programme is to evaluate how plug-in electric vehicles could be used to support the integration of renewable generation.

Further to this, PG&E is testing programs with homeowners that “send signals to customers to increase energy consumption on demand to balance excess generation”. The utility will also look to plug-in electric vehicles for grid frequency or voltage regulation services.